STURGEON BAY, Wis. and SHEBOYGAN, Wis., Feb. 7, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Baylake Corp. (NASDAQ:BYLK), and Baylake Bank President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Robert Cera and Community Bank & Trust Chairman & CEO Anthony L. Jovanovich, closed today on the branch purchase and sale agreement whereby Baylake Bank acquired the branch facility and other fixed assets along with deposit relationships from Community Bank & Trust’s (CB&T) Appleton office located in Outagamie County, WI.

Baylake Bank (Baylake) is headquartered in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin and currently operates 20 banking offices located in four Wisconsin counties. Baylake is one of the ten largest publicly traded banks in the state of Wisconsin. The office being acquired in Appleton, Wisconsin is Baylake Bank’s second office located in Outagamie County and will open at 333 S. Nicolet Road, on Monday, February 10, 2014.

“We wish to welcome the customers of Community Bank & Trust and thank them for their continued confidence during this conversion. Our expansion into the heart of the Fox Valley region supports Baylake’s strategy to build our presence in key, contiguous markets. We look forward to continuing the fine service and capabilities that Community Bank & Trust has established in this area,” Cera said.

“Certainly we have enjoyed the relationships built through our presence in the Fox Cities market. We look forward to servicing our loan clientele through our Chilton office, and are confident that our deposit customers will be treated well by Baylake in the future,” Jovanovich said.

Community Bank & Trust, a wholly owned subsidiary of Community Banc-Corp. of Sheboygan, Inc. has $530 million in total assets, and continues to serve individuals and businesses from 10 community financial centers throughout Sheboygan, Calumet, Outagamie, and Milwaukee counties.

The following appears in accordance with the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:

This news release contains forward-looking statements about the financial condition, results of operations and business of Baylake Corp. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. They often include the words “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” “estimate” or words of similar meaning, or future or conditional verbs such as “would,” “should,” “could” or “may.”

Forward-looking statements, by their nature, are subject to risks and uncertainties. A number of factors, many of which are beyond the control of Baylake Corp., could cause actual conditions, events or results to differ significantly from those indicated by the forward-looking statements. These factors, which are described in this press release and in the annual and quarterly reports filed by Baylake Corp. with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012 under “Item 1A. Risk Factors,” include certain credit, market, operational, liquidity and interest rate risks associated with the company’s business and operations. Other factors include changes in general business and economic conditions, developments (including collection efforts) relating to the identified non-performing loans and other problem loans and assets, world events (especially those which could affect our customers’ tourism-related businesses), competition, fiscal and monetary policies and legislation.

Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and Baylake Corp. does not undertake to update forward-looking statements to reflect circumstances or events that occur after the date the forward-looking statements are made.

SOURCE Baylake Corp.